Items

• 
  2022

  The West in the face of crises since the nineteenth century In the West, returning to the land and to locality is one of the traditional responses to crises

  Confronted with what may appear to be a series of global crises - health, environmental, economic and even democratic - the ideas on the virtues of what is local and rural are becoming increasingly heard. This article aims at putting this return to locality in historical perspective. For almost three hundred years, Western societies have gone through profound changes, especially economic ones, at the cost of a break with nature, in a more or less dramatic, and more or less painful way. Throughout our recent history, surprisingly diverse voices (political leaders, artists, activists, etc.) have conjured up this return to the land, which has taken on various forms. This return appears to be a providential solution to these disruptive changes. The health crisis due to Covid 19 seems to have not only confirmed, but also exacerbated this trend.
• 
  2022

  Teacher Burnout is Real

  826 National is a non-profit organization focused on helping students with their writing skills. In this post, they highlight statistics related to teacher burnout and stress during the second year of the pandemic. One of the most alarming statistics is that 90% of teachers that participated say that teacher burnout is a serious issue. The pandemic has exacerbated the stress put on educators and they have received little support in return.
• 
  2022

  Not a Normal Year for Teachers

  This post shows an example of teachers supporting each other through the end of the 2022 school year. In many different places, people are acting as if life is "normal" again. Schools are not requiring masks or sanitation procedures, school is in session like normal, in-person assemblies, activities, and sports are occurring. However, teachers can definitely tell that everything is not normal, and our job continues to be increasingly more difficult.
• 
  2022

  Teachers are Tired

  Now that we are ending the 2022 school year, many people have "returned to normal". Most students no longer wear masks in schools. However, we are still working through the pandemic. Teachers are still at risk for contracting COVID and are navigating the severe behavioral problems of students. With summer approaching, everyone is looking forward to a break from an extremely stressful year.
• 2022

  Experience of COVID-19 in China and USA

  As an international student, I have witnessed the spread of covid-19 in both China and the United States. While the virus harms humans in the same way, each country does it differently to humans facing the pandemic. I was in high school in Boston when the covid first broke out (in December?). At that time, there were only two cases in Boston, so everyone didn't care much about the virus far across the ocean. As a Chinese, I know that coronavirus has caused countless pain in Wuhan, China. Therefore, I wrote a petition to the school to advocate wearing masks at school to avoid infection. However, the absurdity of things is far beyond my imagination. My high school principal sent an email to all international students (most of us are Asians) telling us that masks do not help people stay away from the virus. He also required us not to wear masks in school because it would cause panic among other local students. This implicit discrimination against Asians is a hurt. In March, I decided to return to China from the US to visit my family. It was a tough decision, not only in the sense of risking my life but in the process. I overcame the flight's cutting off and was cancelled by seven flights to get on the plane home. But when I finally returned to China and was quarantined for 14 days, I discovered the maliciousness toward international students on the Internet. Everyone was repeating the sentence, "you can't serve the motherland, but you can be the first to poison your country flying from thousands of miles away". This exclusion of outsiders is another harm. These hurt far more than covid did to me.
• 
  2022

  Pre Existing Chronicles

  Covid is stressful by itself but when you add a pre existing condition such as sleep apnea, Covid can enhance and mutate itself to become a bigger threat for the person with the added pre existing condition.